


Niobe

by Rosie_Rues



Category: Le città invisibili | Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-24
Updated: 2010-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-14 01:20:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/143787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosie_Rues/pseuds/Rosie_Rues
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The city of Niobe is made entirely from ice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Niobe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Wasuremono](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wasuremono/gifts).



The city of Niobe is made entirely out of ice.

This is not to say that the city is to be found so far north that the frost never lifts. Indeed, in the summer months, the people of Niobe lead a nomadic life, wandering with their herds through the meadows and vales of that region, no doubt singing praises to some benevolent god of the herd who wears a double face and is known to lure away the girls of the tribe with the thrumming music of his pipes.

This is, of course, speculation. I never saw Niobe in summer.

When the days begin to draw into towards the equinox, the wanderers gather in the valley called Niobe, where a deep gorge runs between the cliffs. They divert the streams of the valley through ingenious wheels and channels until it runs in great sheets down the sides of the valley. In the depths of the gorge, these falls of water swiftly freeze into vast sheets of ice, which the people of Niobe tenderly carve into the walls of their city. Rooms are stacked atop each other like bricks, their walls frozen together, ice to ice.

For the first few months, these rooms are open, and the people clamber between them eagerly, admiring the sculptures their neighbours have made in the ice and offering advice on warm furnishings and suitable light sources. But, as the days grow shorter, the people begin to retreat into their little rooms. Above them, the streams still flow, and soon they are all frozen into their own retreats.

This time of cold and loneliness is prized by the Niobeans. Many spend it in meditation, or in study, reading by the warm brown light of the oil lamps they have taken into seclusion with them. Others write poetry, or sing to the echoing sheets of ice. If any should feel lonely, they need only look hard enough at the translucent walls of their own rooms to see the shimmering lights of their neighbours, reassuring them that they are not alone.

Others spend the time in sleep, or in gluttony, filling their icy boxes with food that will not spoil until the spring rises. The oldest and the weakest often lay themselves to rest, knowing that their bodies will be preserved until spring, and that their choice will spare their loved ones the agony of watching them die.

There is one custom, though, which goes against the habitual solitude of the winter city. Among the youth of Niobe, those who have pledged themselves to each other often build adjoining rooms. They bring the walls to a smooth, transparent finish, so that they can always see their beloved, even when the ice has risen to keep them physically separate. There, all through the winter, they gaze upon their beloved's form, close but untouchable. Sometimes they touch gloved fingertips to the adjoining ice or mouth words of love that cannot be heard. The most daring press quick kisses to the windows, pulling away before the ice burns.

When, at the end of winter, the ice returns to water, these couples spring up and meet in the place where the ice once parted them. There, as the city melts, the lovers of Niobe kiss and they kiss and they kiss.


End file.
